Glacier National Park September 2012 Day 1

          September was my second time in the last visiting Glacier National Park in the past year.  It was about a 14 hour drive from my home.  We had not applied for an itinerary, so we were going to have obtain a walk-in permit from the ranger station.  I had never done this before, so I was a little confused about the process.  Since it was so late in the season, only the Apgar Backcountry Permit Station was open.  It opened at 7 am so we figured that getting there at about 6:45 would more than suffice.  When we showed up at 6:45 there were already 5 different groups waiting in-line.  Needless to say Glacier is a popular backpacking destination.

      The rangers were very helpful, and we ended up with the following itinerary night one we stayed at Gable Creek CG, night two we stayed at the head of Glenn's Lake, and night 3 we stayed at the foot of Elizabeth Lake.  To get to our starting point which was the Chief Mountain Trailhead parking lot, which is located in the NE section of the park, basically on the Canadian border.  To get there from Apgar, you go across the Going-to-the-Sun road, turn north at St. Mary and take the Montana 17 exit past Babb to head to Chief Mountain.  Its a little over an hour drive from Apgar.  Below are some pictures of the drive.

GTTS Road near Lake McDonald Lodge

St. Mary Lake

     After we got to the trailhead, we started off on the trek.  The first two miles or so are all downhill through a thick forest.  It levels out at about mile 2 and the trail runs through a prairie like region surrounded by mountains on each side.  The trail basically follows the river.

River 

      The terrain remained like this until we got to our first camp, which was Gable Creek.  The campsite was located very near a ranger station.

North Shore of Lake Superior 3-day Trip

The Lake Superior Trail runs along the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.  Parts of the trail run along the ridge of the lake, but the majority of the trail is further inland, surrounded by forest and wetlands.  This 3 day out-and-back trip took me from just west of Silver Bay, MN through Tettegouche State Park and back.

The trail started with a view of Lake Superior in the distance.

Lake Superior

The lake was in sight for most of the trip.

 The trail started off on a steady ascent for about 2 miles where we reached a peak elevation of about 1500 feet above sea level.  From then on the trail followed the ridge over looking the two in-land looks shown below.

Camping on this trail was only allowed in designated campsites.  No reservations were required, they were first come first serve which wasn't an issue.  In the 3 days we were out there, we did not see another hiker.  It was early April in Minnesota, so it still got to be around 20 F degrees at night, a little cold to be sleeping outside without the proper gear.  The campsites were a pleasant surprise, multiple tent pads, a fire ring, a pit toilet, and each site was located near a water source.  Here was our tent the first night. 

I am going to try and do other sections of this trail in the future, preferably some of the sections that are located directly on the shoreline of Lake Superior.  The Superior Hiking Trail is actually part of the North Country Scenic Trail which runs from Maine to North Dakota and is one of the country's 11 National Scenic Trails.

Gear List

My current gear list is located on the right of the screen.  I will update it when I buy a new item, or upgrade an existing item.  Right now I am going to give a review of each of my current items.

Pack: Gregory Baltoro 75

This is an awesome pack, I absolutely love it.  I have never put a huge load in this pack, I normally hike at about 35-40 pounds with this pack, but regardless of the load, it feels like there is nothing on your back.  It is highly adjustable, but as always make sure to get it fitted by a professional because I well fitting bag can make all the difference in the world.  The only knock for some people is that it comes in at about 5.5 pounds, a little heavy but in my opinion it is totally worth the increase in comfort and features.

http://www.rei.com/product/809317/gregory-baltoro-75-pack

Sleeping Pad: Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite

Another amazing product.  Super light, super comfortable and easy to use.  I got the regular length which is about perfect me, I am a shade under 6'.  Its warm, and is not very noise.  It takes me about 20 breaths to fill up which can be a problem after a 30 mile day, but other than that I have never used a better sleeping pad.  It packs down to about the size of a 1 liter nalgene bottle and weighs 12 ounces.

http://www.rei.com/product/829851/therm-a-rest-neoair-xlite-sleeping-pad

Water Filter:  Katadyn Hiker Pro

I can't really comment on this since I have only used it on one trip so far.  It works very well, very easy to pump, but I have to admit the water I was "filtering" was probably clean enough to drink, some I don't think the filter was doing much.  I will comment on durability and filter life as I use it more often but my first impressions are that it is a solidly built product, it doesn't feel like it will break in your hands, its easy to use, light and packs down to about the size of a Bible.

http://www.rei.com/product/830745/katadyn-hiker-pro-water-filter

Stove: Jetboil Sol

The Sol is the lightest of the current Jetboil stove products.  I did not get the titanium version, just the regular.  I had heard some not so great things about the neoprene sleeve with the titanium version, so I opted for the regular version.  First of all this stove boild .8 liters of water in about 2 minutes, its great.  You can cook right in the heating cup, but I don't because I normally backpack with more than one person and I don't feel like scratching up the inside with my utensil.  It lights very easily and quickly and burns fuel efficiently.  I only cook food for dinner and my fuel canister is still not empty, I have used it for 13 days on the trail and its the smallest available capacity.  The reason I got the small fuel canister is because obviously its the lightest, and it is the only that packs right into the stove cup, it is extremely convenient.  Set-up is very easy, my only issue with this product is even though it has a neoprene sleeve, it still is too hot to touch just after boiling the water.  Gloves or a towel are needed if you need to move the cup immediately, otherwise after about a minute it is OK to touch with bare hands. 

http://www.rei.com/product/813622/jetboil-sol-stove

Welcome to the Up-North Backpacking Blog

In my experience backpacking and hiking, I have learned the most when reading and listening to what experienced backpacker's have to say.  That is the reason why I started this blog, there is never too much information out there, and I would like to add my opinions and suggestions to the already vast amount of information available to us.